The person responsible is the one who let the horse loose.
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I do that everywhere. Idiots abound, not just in Florida.
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Prosecuted for what? Having a loose animal run into the side of his vehicle, from the sound of it?
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Hit and run (leaving the scene of an accident)
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I look both ways when the light is green also. By doing so I’ve saved myself from being t-boned 3 times, so far.
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It’s very likely that unless the barn worker deliberately turned the horse loose against instructions responsibility will ultimately go back to the barn owner and horse owner.
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prosecuted for what? A 1000lb animal running out in front of her truck??
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Precisely. It’s livestock in the road. There will be no charges for the driver unless it’s proven that they were under the influence or there was property damage. Again, I’m surprised they are pushing to find them bc I would be concerned that the craptacular driver could flip the script and turn around and sue for damages to vehicle for animals being out on a county or state road. It’s too late to prove that driver was potentially under the influence, so unclear what charges they would pursue? Much like a deer in the road, it’s an accident and they’re not going to charge them for it unless it’s proven as reckless or careless on their part, which is hard to do after the fact.
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Truth. I’m not one to jump the lights… but I definitely do an extended pause here. Started doing it in Colorado after watching too many accidents and near misses… and I’ve seen it happen here a few times and it’s spooked me enough to take another beat and a second glance.
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I hit a deer in August at night. I never saw it. Next morning in the daylight I saw that the whole right front corner of my car was crushed… Upon closer inspection I saw deer fur in the crushed headlight glass. I guess I’m a criminal
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Ok, so you never saw the deer, never felt the impact, and discovered the damage to your car the next day. If it weren’t for the extensive damage, you wouldn’t have known you had hit anything.
I guess you were lucky that you hit a deer, and not a person.
Not stopping if you have a collision must be a regional thing.
I don’t know how else to explain the difference of opinion.
That’s our law here.
Hitting a horse or cow can be a deadly for the driver and front seat passenger and total a vehicle. Hopefully, the driver is ok and didn’t end up badly injured and disoriented, even running off the road into water or underbrush.
Really sad for the horse.
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Live in Central Fl. Despite public perception, parts of Fl are very much, rural, small Southern towns with limited resources. Perhaps driver knew they hit something or something hit the side of their vehicle on a dark, public road but it ran and they thought it was a deer. Not smart to thrash around the bushes in the dark in rural Fl. There are snakes…and more bears then many realize. What are they supposed to do? Yes, they should have called the police or tried to file a report but without specifics a short staffed, rural police department may not even have been interested and locals may have just fixed the vehicle damage themselves, do they know even the age and make of the truck ot that it was a truck?
But, as far as undocumented drivers? Maybe it was street racing, never seen anything like it down here. They hit lots of stuff, often caught on traffic cameras, run a red light racing, kill a pedestrian, floor it and vanish. Cruise the highways looking for a race, pull alongside, make eye contact and its on…until one hits something or flies off the road. Ridiculous but there you have it.
Seems to be the twenty something pastime, especially males with expensive vehicles.
Regardless, Its a sad loss, my heart goes out to owner. Oh, happened in another state but know those who had their own horses get out, got hit and put a driver in the hospital for months. They were renting the farm they lived and kept the horses on. They were held liable, the property owner they rented from had to sell the property to satisfy the judgement. So, likely whoever operates the barn that boarded the horse is going to be found negligent ( they had control, they left the gate open, their action caused the accident) as well as horses owner.
You can get horse owners liability with your regular equine policy, its not expensive. Horses are legally considered livestock, not pets and they are much bigger, not a bad idea to carry liability.
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My cousin’s daughter is married to a FL Highway Patrolman. He once told us that hit and run accidents are typically caused by:
- Uninsured drivers
- Undocumented drivers
- Drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Young drivers in the 17-28 age group who are more scared of consequences by their parent/boss/SO than they are of consequences by LE
- Young drivers breaking age-related restrictions, such as teens with too many other teens/underage people in the car with them
And not necessarily in that order.
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Even though I’m guessing it did not apply in this case, I always feel like another reason there are so many accidents in Florida is that the traffic lights are so freaking long. So the people who don’t want to sit there for those five minutes waiting for the light to turn are much more inclined to run the yellow or red light instead of stop for it.
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Right… I haven’t exactly heard of any manhunts going on when people hit deer… so doubt that there will be prosecution for accidentally colliding with livestock in the road. F
WIW, Ocala can be SUPER foggy in the morning too. I’ve had a few mornings where I could barely see the traffic lights and definitely not more than a car length or 2 ahead of me. I don’t remember any fog forecasts this week, but it’s possible.
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Regardless of the details, or whether the person is ever found, I think it’s safe to say it was just a sad accident. I doubt the person did it on purpose, especially if they’re looking for a vehicle with damage on the side of it.
I’m going to also guess that the horse got loose by accident rather than from any deliberate action, even though the responsibility will probably still lie with the person who officially had care, custody, and control of it.
Very sad, however it happened.
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Sadly, as someone else said, it was the person who left the gates open who is responsible. Whether the horse ran into the car, was in the middle of the road in the dark, or whatever else transpired to end in the impact, it would never have happened if the horse wasn’t loose in the road in the dark.
Leaving the gate open was the negligent act. As mentioned above there are about a million potential reasons why the driver did not stay on the scene, but in all likelihood it was a tragic accident after the horse got out.
I’m terribly sorry for you friend, but chasing down the driver is not going to get her closure and she really should seek counseling.
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Chasing down the driver will probably bring on the lawsuit.
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